Q&A: Emma Harbour of the Rainforest Alliance

QA_Emma Harbour_Rainforest Alliance

By Dan Bolton

Emma Harbour is the Rainforest Alliance’s head of global advocacy. In this position, she oversees the organization’s advocacy work at a global, regional, and local level. Rainforest Alliance’s advocacy focuses on engaging with public and private sector policymakers to influence change to help create more enabling environments for sustainable supply chains to be able to flourish.

Emma joined pre-merger UTZ in 2014. She has worked in advocacy and communications for organizations in the UK, Netherlands and the US including ActionAid, UN Women, and the Clean Clothes Campaign.

STiR: The sustainable model at origin that the entire coffee industry is seeking is in jeopardy. What is the immediate priority in your view on the pressing matter of farmgate prices declining the past two decades to the point they are now below the cost of production?

Harbour: Rainforest Alliance is appealing to traders, roasters, and retailers in the global coffee industry to change the way they do business. As prices decline, Rainforest Alliance warns that it is essential to ensure that farmers – large or small – are economically viable businesses. For smallholders, this can be the difference between being able to earn a decent living or being stuck in a cycle of poverty. For larger farms, it can be the difference between paying workers a living wage or not. For all farmers lack of economic viability means they will not be able to invest in sustainable practices, adapt to climatic changes or take steps to respect child and worker rights. It is vital that all actors in the supply chain commit to a long-term and systemic response in order not only to improve prices but also to allow producers to build their resilience to fluctuating markets and increase their profitability.

STiR: What do you believe are causes of the current price drop?

Harbour: The causes of the current price drop are complex and include issues such as how supply is managed, poorly designed agricultural policies, and insufficient support for farmers and farm management. Speculation in the coffee futures market is also a factor, exacerbating price swings. Yet while the current pricing crisis is particularly dire, fluctuating prices are a trait of any commodity and the long-term sustainability of producers will only be possible if it can be achieved within the current market system they rely on.

However, as the recent dramatic price falls have demonstrated, the market is not an equal playing field. Producers carry a disproportionate amount of risk, and often lack the knowledge and access to tools that are designed to deal with these risks. This is compounded by being impacted more quickly and more dramatically when the market price drops. Price volatility, especially low prices, often means producers are unable to commit long-term investments needed to implement sustainable agricultural practices. At the same time, they cannot easily exit the coffee market and move into other forms of income generation.

STiR: The simplified concept of a linear supply chain comprised of specialized links distorts what is a complex system in which origin adds value up to and including retail packaging; direct sourcing bypasses traditional trade desks and traceability can be a nightmare. Describe how the chain of custody update more closely aligns with real-world supply systems?

Harbour: We are looking at how to best reflect this real-world situation in the chain of custody, and in other work we do, we recognize that the linear supply chain is too simplified and supply chains vary greatly from commodity to commodity.

This is an ongoing piece of work that we will be working with stakeholders on in the coming months. Our experience with both growers and buyers means that we are always looking to improve and innovate in order to make systems work well. We are looking at how data and other tools can help best serve all actors in the supply chain and take into account the differences in supply chains.

STiR: Certifications that burden growers with distractions, costly inspections, paperwork, and procedures squander time and limited resources that are better applied to the pursuit of quality. Quality is sustainable. How do you get back to the basic task of assuring customers their dollars are well spent?

Harbour: It’s hard to go into a supermarket without spotting the Rainforest Alliance frog seal which represents a holistic sustainability approach that aims to both conserve biodiversity and improve rural livelihoods. Add to this a rigorous monitoring and evaluation system that tracks the degree to which the organization is—or isn’t—reaching those goals.

Certification is an important tool for making sectors more sustainable. It helps all the players to work towards unified standards: it sets the standards and provides independent verification against them.

From a long-term perspective, certification helps ensure the future viability of farming and agriculture, which will confront increasing pressures from climate change and socioeconomic factors. By applying good practices related to environmental management, worker health and safety, and farm productivity, certified farms are preparing to be able to deliver high-quality, sustainable produce into the future.

Rainforest Alliance Certification ensures that the coffee is grown on farms that meet social and environmental standards designed to protect forests, soil, water, wildlife and the people and communities who live and work in forests and farms. To achieve certification, Rainforest Alliance trains farmers in the sustainable methods of the Rainforest Alliance Agriculture standard and conducts audits to monitor compliance. Farms that earn the Rainforest Alliance certification can sell their products with the certified green frog seal.

Companies and retailers that sell Rainforest Alliance certified products [or products containing certified ingredients] may use the green frog seal on retail packaging and in marketing materials, to signal that the product was certified.

STiR: Rainforest offers a new strategic vision following the merger with UTZ. Please elaborate.

Harbour: When Rainforest Alliance and UTZ merged earlier this year, we knew that together we could better fulfill our joint vision for a world in which people and nature thrive in harmony. Having pooled both organizations’ deep wells of talent and expertise, we are now in an even better position to scale up positive impacts on rural livelihoods and biodiversity around the world. Together with our diverse allies, we are working to make responsible business the new normal.

In order to achieve this, we are implementing a new strategy to deliver more value to our partners. We aim to harness the power of the market to drive positive social, economic, and environmental change.

We recognize that we cannot transform landscapes by only working at the sector level. We need strong local organizations and communities, an enabling financial sector—as well as enabling government policies—to complement market approaches. This is why our new strategy includes advocacy and tailored services for companies.